Newport Marathon

I had a friend/client who desperately wanted to check off "run a marathon" from her bucket list. She hired me to "run her across the finish line" of the Newport, Oregon Marathon. I trained right along side her. 

Our training starting in January and I outlined a five month training schedule that would get her to finish the marathon in 6 hours. She had so many ups and down in her training schedule. Her son was in and out of the hospital as well as trying to graduate from high school, family drama here and there, but she trained hard! We ran long runs together when we could and we met in Newport on June 4th and ran a six hour marathon. It was AWESOME! I'm so glad I was able to help Roy across the line. She was a perfect training partner and I was delighted to help her check off "run a marathon" from her list. 

I might just run this one by myself some time in the future. The town was delightful. The race was so beautiful and for the most part flat. I really would do this one again. I'd do the half in a heart beat and probably could be talked into the full with the right running partner. 

The van decided it needed to go in the shop just before we left so Steve and I had to ride the bike down. It wasn't so bad, but it sure was long! We live in a very beautiful part of the country. 

New Bike Seat

The ride to Newport brought about a new problem: Steve's bike seat. The ride was a little on the long side and it was quite painful for me to ride on the back that long. If we were going to do much riding together, the seat would have to be fixed or the distant we could travel would have to be fixed about about a three hour bike ride. Steve started looking online to see if there was a way to get a custom bike seat made and there were plenty of choices but one stood out: Rich's Custom Seats and it so happened to be here across the water in Kingston, Washington; just a ferry ride away. So an appointment was made and Steve and I know ride in style and warmth (I made Steve add heat to the seats). It was a cool process and so fun! 

Anniversary Trip

And with that new seat we took a long weekend and went up to the Methow Valley for our anniversary. We stayed just outside of Winthrop, Washington, in Sun Mountain Lodge. WOW! The scenery was breathtaking! I took a short walk and saw some beautiful animals up close. 

We rode many of the scenic highways of Northern Washington and saw some incredible country.  Washington Pass had to be one of the most breathtaking places around. 

Steve surprised me and took me to dinner in a TIPI--yes an authentic Native American Tipi! The food was rather good but the setting was incredible. 

Dancing

Jessie was asked to teach a "Leaps and Turns" dance class at her Dance Studio this summer. She rocked it! The girls learned so much and Jessie did too! She hopes she is invited to teach again next summer.